Pushing on ahead of them, with that sometimes fatal facility peculiar1 to writers and readers, we will now visit the couple whom Dan and his party were so anxious to rescue.
A single glance at Elspie McKay would have been sufficient to account to most people for the desperate anxiety of Daniel Davidson to rescue her from death, for her pretty sparkling face and ever-varying expression were irresistibly2 suggestive of a soul full of sympathy and tender regard for the feelings of others.
Nut-brown hair, dark eyes, brilliant teeth, and many more charms that it would take too much time and room to record still further accounted for the desperate determination with which Dan had wooed and won her.
But to see this creature at her best, you had to see her doing the dutiful to her old father. If ever there was a peevish3, cross-grained, crabbed4, unreasonable5 old sinner in this world, that sinner was Duncan McKay, senior. He was a widower6. Perhaps that accounted to some extent for his condition. That he should have a younger son—also named Duncan—a cross ne’er-do-weel like himself—was natural, but how he came to have such a sweet daughter as Elspie, and such a good elder son as Fergus, are mysteries which we do not attempt to unravel7 or explain. Perhaps these two took after their departed mother. We know not, for we never met her. Certain it is that they did not in the least resemble their undeparted father—except in looks, for McKay senior had been a handsome man, though at the time we introduce him his good looks, like his temper, had nearly fled, and he was considerably8 shrivelled up by age, hard work, and exposure. The poor man was too old to emigrate to a wilderness9 home when he had set out for the Red River Colony, and the unusual sufferings, disappointments, and hardships to which the first settlers were exposed had told heavily on even younger men than he.
Elspie’s love for her father was intense; her pity for him in his misfortunes was very tender; and, now that he was brought face to face with, perhaps, the greatest danger that had ever befallen him, her anxiety to relieve and comfort him was very touching10. She seemed quite to forget herself, and the fact that she might perish on the bleak11 plains along with her father did not seem even to occur to her.
“It wass madness to come here, whatever,” said the poor old man, as he cowered12 over the small fire, which his son Fergus had kindled13 before leaving, and which Elspie had kept up with infinite labour and difficulty ever since.
The remark was made testily14 to himself, for Elspie had gone into the surrounding bush, axe15 in hand, to find, if possible, and cut down some more small pieces of firewood. When she returned with an armful of dry sticks, he repeated the sentiment still more testily, and added—“If it wass not for Tuncan, I would have been at home this night in my warm bed, wi’ a goot supper inside o’ me, instead o’ freezin’ an’ starvin’ oot here on the plain among the snow. It’s mischief16 that boy wass always after from the tay he wass born.”
“But you know that poor Duncan could not guess we were to have such awful weather, or that the buffalo17 would be so scarce. Come now, dear daddy,” said the cheery girl, as she heaped on wood and made a blaze that revived the old man, “I’ll warm up some more of the tea. There’s a very little left—and—and—it surely won’t be long till God sends Daniel and Fergus back to us with food.”
Old McKay was somewhat mollified by her manner, or by the fire, or by the prospect18 of relief held out, for his tone improved decidedly.
“Try the bag again, lass,” he said, “maybe you’ll find a crumb19 or two in the corners yet. It will do no harm to try.”
Obediently poor Elspie tried, but shook her head as she did so.
“There’s nothing there, daddy. I turned it inside out last time.”
Meanwhile his daughter put the tin kettle on the fire and prepared their last cup of tea. When it was ready she looked up with a peculiar expression on her face, as she drew something from her pocket.
“Look here, daddy,” she said, holding up a bit of pemmican about the size of a hen’s egg.
The old man snatched it from her, and, biting off a piece, began to chew with a sort of wolfish voracity21.
“I reserved it till now,” said the girl, “for I knew that this being the second night, you would find it impossible to get to sleep at all without something in you, however small. If you manage to sleep on this and the cup of hot tea, you’ll maybe rest well till morning—and then—”
“God forgive me!” exclaimed the old man, suddenly pausing, as he was about to thrust the last morsel22 into his mouth; “hunger makes me selfish. I wass forgettin’ that you are starvin’ too, my tear. Open your mouth.”
“No, father, I don’t want it. I really don’t feel hungry.”
“Elspie, my shild,” said old Duncan, in a tone of stern remonstrance23, “when wass it that you began to tell lies?”
“I’m telling the truth, daddy. I did feel hungry yesterday, but that has passed away, and to-day I feel only a little faint.”
“Open your mouth, I’m tellin’ you,” repeated old Duncan in a tone of command which long experience had taught Elspie promptly24 to obey. She received the morsel, ate it with much relish25, and wished earnestly for more.
“Now, you’ll lie down and go to sleep,” she said, after her father had washed down the last morsel of food with the last cup of hot tea, “and I’ll gather a few more sticks to keep the fire going till morning. I think it is not so cold as it was, and the wind is quite gone. They have been away five days now, or more. I think that God, in His mercy, will send us relief in the morning.”
“You are a goot lass, my tear,” said the old man, allowing himself to be made as comfortable as it was in his daughter’s power to accomplish; “what you say is ferry true. The weather feels warmer, and the wind is down. Perhaps they will find us in the mornin’. Goot-night, my tear.”
It was one of the characteristics of this testy26 old man, that he believed it quite possible for a human being to get on quite well enough in this world without any distinct recognition of his Maker27.
Once, in conversation with his youngest son and namesake Duncan junior, he had somehow got upon this subject, not by any means in a reverential, but in an argumentative, controversial spirit, and had expressed the opinion that as man knew nothing whatever about God, and had no means of finding out anything about Him, there was no need to trouble one’s head about Him at all.
“I just go about my work, Tuncan,” he said, “an’ leave preachin’ an’ prayin’ an’ psalm-singin’ to them that likes it. There’s Elspie, now. She believes in God, an’ likes goin’ to churches an’ meetin’s, an’ that seems to make her happy. Ferry goot—I don’t pelieve in these things, an’ I think I’m as happy as hersel’.”
“Humph!” grunted28 the son in a tone of unconcealed contempt; “if ye are as happy as hersel’, faither, yer looks give the lie to your condeetion, whatever. An’ there’s this great dufference between you an’ her, that she’s not only happy hersel’, but she does her best to mak other folk happy—but you, wi’ your girnin’ an’ snappin’, are always doin’ the best ye can to mak everybody aboot ye meeserable.”
“Tuncan,” retorted the sire, with solemn candour, “it iss the same compliment I can return to yoursel’ with interest, my boy—whatever.”
With such sentiments, then, it is not remarkable29 that Duncan McKay senior turned over to sleep as he best could without looking to a higher source than earth afforded for help in his extremity30. Happily his daughter was actuated by a better spirit, and when she at last lay down on her pile of brushwood, with her feet towards the fire, and her head on a buffalo robe, the fact of her having previously31 committed herself and her father to God made her sleep all the sounder.
In another clump32 of wood not many miles distant from the spot where the father and daughter lay, two hunters were encamped. One was Duncan McKay, to whom we have just referred as being in discord33 with his father. The other was a Canadian named Henri Perrin.
Both men were gaunt and weakened by famine. They had just returned to camp from an unsuccessful hunt, and the latter, being first to return, had kindled the fire, and was about to put on the kettle when McKay came in.
“I’ve seen nothing,” remarked McKay as he flung down his gun and then flung himself beside it. “Did you see anything?”
“No, nothing,” answered Perrin, breaking off a piece of pemmican and putting it into the pot.
“How much is left?” asked McKay.
“Hardly enough for two days—for the two of us; four days perhaps for one!” answered the other.
McKay looked up quickly, but the Canadian was gazing abstractedly into the pot. Apparently34 his remark had no significance. But McKay did not think so. Since arriving in the colony he had seen and heard much about deception35 and crime among both Indians and half-breeds. Being suspicious by nature, he became alarmed, for it was evident enough, as Perrin had said, that food to last two men for three days would last one man for six, and the one who should possess six days’ provisions might hope to reach the Settlement alive, even though weakened by previous starvation.
The dark expression which had procured36 for Duncan McKay junior the sobriquet37 of Cloudbrow from La Certe and his wife, deepened visibly as these thoughts troubled his brain, and for some time he sat gazing at the fire in profound abstraction.
Young McKay was not by any means one of the most depraved of men, but when a man is devoid38 of principle it only requires temptation strong enough, and opportunity convenient, to sink him suddenly to the lowest depths. Starvation had so far weakened the physique of the hunters that it was obviously impossible for both of them to reach the Settlement on two days’ short allowance of food. The buffalo had been driven away from that neighbourhood by the recent storm, and the hope of again falling in with them was now gone. The starving hunters, as we have said, had broken up camp, and were scattered39 over the plains no one could tell where. To find them might take days, if not weeks; and, even if successful, of what avail would it be to discover groups of men who were in the same predicament with themselves? To remain where they were was certain and not far-distant death! The situation was desperate, and each knew it to be so. Yet each did not take it in the same way. McKay, as we have said, became abstracted and slightly nervous. The Canadian, whatever his thoughts, was calm and collected, and went about his culinary operations as if he were quite at ease. He was about to lift the pot off the hook that suspended it over the fire, when his companion quietly, and as if without any definite purpose, took up his gun.
Perrin observed the action, and quickly reached out his hand towards his own weapon, which lay on the ground beside him.
Quick as lightning McKay raised his gun and fired. Next moment his comrade lay dead upon the ground—shot through the heart!
Horror-struck at what he had done, the murderer could scarcely believe his eyes, and he stood up glaring at the corpse40 as if he had been frozen to death in that position. After standing41 a long time, he sat down and tried to think of his act and the probable consequences.
Self-defence was the first idea that was suggested clearly to him; and he clung to it as a drowning man is said to cling to a straw. “Was it not clear,” he thought, “that Perrin intended to murder me? If not, why so quick to grip his gun? If I had waited it would have been me, not Perrin, that would be lying there now!”
His memory reminded him faithfully, however, that when he first thought of taking up his gun, Conscience had sternly said,—“Don’t.” Why should Conscience have spoken thus, or at all, if his motive42 had been innocent?
There are two ways in which a wicked man gets rid of conscientious43 troubles—at least for a time. One way is by stout-hearted defiance44 of God, and ignoring of Conscience altogether. The other is by sophistical reasoning, and a more or less successful effort to throw dust in his own eyes.
Duncan McKay took the latter method. It is an easy enough method—especially with the illogical—but it works indifferently, and it does not last long.
Conscience may be seared; may be ignored; may be trampled45 on, but it cannot be killed; it cannot even be weakened and is ever ready at the most unseasonable and unexpected times to start up, vigorous and faithful to the very end, with its emphatic46 “Don’t!” and “No!”
Dragging the body out of the camp, McKay returned to take his supper and reason the matter out with himself.
“I could not help myself,” he thought; “when I took up my gun I did not intend to kill the man.”
Conscience again reminded him of its “Don’t!”
Conscience again said “No!”
Here the hunter uttered a savage48 oath, to which Conscience made no reply, for Conscience never speaks back or engages in disputation.
We need not attempt further to analyse the workings of sophistry49 in the brain of a murderer. Suffice it to say that when the man had finished his supper he had completely, though not satisfactorily, justified50 himself in his own eyes. There was, he felt, a disagreeable undercurrent of uneasiness; but this might have been the result of fear as to how the Canadian half-breeds and friends of the slain51 man would regard the matter in the event of its being found out.
There was reason for anxiety on this head, for poor Perrin was a great favourite among his comrades, while Cloudbrow was very much the reverse.
Having finished the supper which he had purchased at such a terrible price, the young man gathered his things together, packed the provisions on his back, put on his snow-shoes and left the scene of the murder.
Although a dark night, there was sufficient moon-light to enable him to pick his steps, but he had not advanced more than two miles when he came upon the track of a party that had preceded him. This rendered the walking more easy, and as he plodded52 along he reflected that the wolves would soon find Perrin’s body, and, by tearing it to pieces render recognition of the victim impossible.
Suddenly it occurred to him that if any of the scattered band of hunters should come on the camp before the wolves had time to do their work, the print of his snow-shoes might tell a tale—for snowshoes were of various shapes and sizes, and most of his companions in the Settlement might be pretty well acquainted with the shape of his. The danger of such a contretemps was not great, but, to make quite sure that it should not occur, he turned round and walked straight back on his track to the camp he had just left—thus obliterating53, or, rather, confusing the track, so as to render recognition improbable. As he walked over it a third time, in resuming his march to the Settlement, all danger on this ground, he considered, was effectually counteracted54. Of course, when he reached the tracks of the party before mentioned, all trace of his own track was necessarily lost among these.
That “murder will out” is supposed to be an unquestionable truism. We nevertheless question it very much; for, while the thousands of cases of murder that have been discovered are obvious, the vast number, it may be, that have never been found out are not obvious, however probable.
The case we are now describing seemed likely to belong to the class which remains55 a mystery till altogether forgotten. Nevertheless Nemesis56 was on the wing.
While Duncan McKay junior was thus pushing his way over the plains in the direction of Red River Settlement, two poor half-breed women were toiling57 slowly over the same plains behind him, bound for the same haven58 of hoped-for and much-needed rest and refreshment59. The poor creatures had been recently made widows. The husband of one, Louis Blanc, had been killed by Indians during this hunt; that of the other, Antoine Pierre, had met his death by being thrown from his horse when running the buffalo. Both women were in better condition than many of the other hunters’ wives, for they had started on the homeward journey with a better supply of meat, which had not yet been exhausted60.
It happened that Marie Blanc and Annette Pierre came upon McKay’s camp soon after he left it the second time. Here they prepared to spend the night, but, on discovering marks of fresh blood about, they made a search, and soon came on the unburied corpse of the murdered man, lying behind a bush. They recognised it at once, for Perrin had been well-known, as well as much liked, in the Settlement.
Neither of the women was demonstrative. They did not express much feeling, though they were undoubtedly61 shocked; but they dug a hole in the snow with their snow-shoes, and buried the body of the hunter therein—having first carefully examined the wound in his breast, and removed the poor man’s coat, which exhibited a burnt hole in front, as well as a hole in the back, for the bullet had gone quite through him.
Then they returned to the camp, and made a careful examination of it; but nothing was found there which could throw light on the subject of who was the murderer. Whether a comrade or an Indian had done the deed there was nothing to show; but that a murder had been committed they could not doubt, for it was physically62 almost impossible that a man could have shot himself in the chest, either by accident or intention, with one of the long-barrelled trading guns in use among the buffalo-hunters.
Another point, justifying63 the supposition of foul64 play, was the significant fact that Perrin’s gun, with his name rudely carved on the stock, still lay in the camp undischarged.
“See—here is something,” said one woman to the other in the Cree tongue, as they were about to quit the camp.
She held up a knife which she had found half buried near the fire.
“It is not a common scalping-knife,” said the other woman. “It is the knife of a settler.”
The weapon in question was one of the large sheath-knives which many of the recently arrived settlers had brought with them from their native land. Most of these differed a little in size and form from each other, but all of them were very different from the ordinary scalping-knives supplied by the fur-traders to the half-breeds and Indians.
“I see no name on it—no mark,” said the woman who found it, after a critical inspection65. Her companion examined it with equal care and similar result.
The two women had at first intended to encamp at this spot, but now they determined66 to push forward to the Settlement as fast as their exhausted condition permitted, carrying the knife, with the coat and gun of the murdered man, along with them.
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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peevish
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| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
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crabbed
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| adj.脾气坏的；易怒的；（指字迹）难辨认的；（字迹等）难辨认的v.捕蟹( crab的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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widower
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| n.鳏夫 | |
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unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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cowered
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| v.畏缩，抖缩( cower的过去式 ) | |
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kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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testily
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| adv. 易怒地, 暴躁地 | |
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axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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crumb
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| n.饼屑，面包屑，小量 | |
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groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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voracity
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morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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promptly
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relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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testy
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| adj.易怒的；暴躁的 | |
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maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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extremity
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previously
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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discord
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apparently
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deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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procured
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| v.（努力）取得， （设法）获得( procure的过去式和过去分词 )；拉皮条 | |
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sobriquet
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devoid
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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conscientious
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| adj.审慎正直的，认真的，本着良心的 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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trampled
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| 踩( trample的过去式和过去分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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justify
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| vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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sophistry
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| n.诡辩 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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plodded
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| v.沉重缓慢地走（路）( plod的过去式和过去分词 )；努力从事；沉闷地苦干；缓慢进行（尤指艰难枯燥的工作） | |
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obliterating
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| v.除去( obliterate的现在分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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counteracted
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| 对抗，抵消( counteract的过去式 ) | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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nemesis
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| n.给以报应者，复仇者，难以对付的敌手 | |
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toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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58
haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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59
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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60
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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61
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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62
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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63
justifying
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| 证明…有理( justify的现在分词 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护） | |
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64
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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65
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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66
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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